Just One More Kilometer

One day Gautam Buddha and Ananda were to visit another town. They were tired, Buddha was turning old and Ananda was even older than him. Ananda was worried that if they don’t reach the town before sunset, then they will have to spend the night in the jungle. As they were rushing, they saw an old farmer working in the field. Buddha asked him how far is the town? The farmer looked at Buddha and gave a wide smile. Buddha smiled back at him and asked him again if he can tell them how far was the town. The old farmer said you are on the right path and the town is just 2 miles away. You will soon reach there, continue in the same route. It’s almost there, don’t worry. Buddha smiles, the old man smiles. Anand can’t understand what’s going on. They continue to walk, 2 miles past the town is not there yet, both are even more tired. They find an old woman collecting wood. Ananda asks her how far is the town. The old woman said’ Oh! You almost reached, don’t be worried. It’s just 2 miles away, you will reach there very soon. ‘The old woman smiles and Buddha smiles. Ananda can’t understand still what laughter business is going on and where is the town, there is no trace of it yet. They continue to walk, even more, tired and hungry. Two miles passed and no sign of the town yet. They came across a third man. Asked him the same question and he smiled at Buddha and said the same, asked them not to worry at all, progress and soon reach the town which was just 2 miles away. Buddha and the man exchanged smiles yet again. They moved further but again they were nowhere closer to the town. Ananda was profusely tired and hungry by then. He just couldn’t move any further and dropped his bag. Ananda was Buddha’s companion for 40 years and knew not to ask unnecessary questions. But this time he said that he just wanted to know what was going on. Why were these unknown people and strangers smiling at Buddha and guiding them to the town saying it was just 2 miles away whereas it was really far off. Buddha smiled at Ananda and said that the passer-bys smiled at Buddha as they could gauge that they were in the same profession as Buddha. Our job is to encourage people to set on the journey and cover as many miles as possible, finally, they will reach their destination. The strangers kept saying ‘2 miles and you will reach’ which kept us going and we at least covered 8 miles now. Had they said ‘it’s 15 miles away at the beginning itself, you might have dropped your bag before we even began. Buddha said most of my life, I have been doing this. Encouraging people to set in the journey and keep telling them that the destination is near so it helps them stay aligned and focused. They finally reach but if we tell the distance in the beginning, many may not even begin this journey. We smiled at each other as I know this village and I have visited this place earlier, I knew that the town wasn’t 2 miles away and I could understand what they were trying to do. 

Satguru Manash Ji started our journey by sharing simple, easy-to-understand processes and stories that it felt that the destination to the ultimate supreme is just 2 miles away. With every Sunday, Wednesday, and every interaction he helps us cover 2 miles - if we ever look back we can realize how swiftly we covered 100s of miles in the path of divine grace. Keep encouraging us Guruji to be those fragrant flowers who aim to spread love, warmth, compassion in the entire cosmos. We will encourage many others and show them 2 miles long Google maps every time there is a need to cover a long n tough trek.

Tatvamasi - Aham Brahmasmi